Onutė Narbutaitė is probably one of the foremost composers
of her generation in Lithuania. Her music is reasonably well
known thanks to a handful of discs released by Finlandia some
years ago. These may still be available. Her music also received
national and international awards. There were also commissions
including from the Brandenburg State Orchestra for her substantial
Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae for chorus and orchestra.

This imposing work is in fact a large-scale choral-orchestral
triptych framed by two short movements for a cappella chorus:
Introitus using fragments from The Song of Songs
and Oratio setting words by Hildegarde von Bingen. The
main movements (or symphonies) deal with three important episodes
from the New Testament involving Christ and Mary: the Revelation,
the Birth of Jesus and the Crucifixion.

The first symphony, Angelus Domini sets parts of the
Ave Maria and words from the Revelation. This movement
- the longest of the entire work - opens with a long orchestral
introduction. The music is dark, ominous at times and troubled,
albeit allowing for calmer episodes. The prevailing mood is
one of menace and tension. This is emphasised and reinforced
by the scoring in which brass and string glissandi and piercing
woodwind as well as heavy brass ostinati predominate. The music
unfolds in waves reaching some massive, though short-lived climaxes.
The chorus enters tentatively at first with a slow-keyed Ave
Maria (at about 9:45), but bright fanfares spur the chorus
into more assertiveness. This does not last long and the music
momentarily dissolves into a short percussion-led section leading
into a new choral section (“Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae”).
This ushers in a new setting of words from the Ave Maria
followed by an orchestral episode at the words “Ecce ancilla
Domini”. The final words (“Et verbum caro factum
est. Et habitavit in nobis”) are recited on one note by
the chorus. A final massive crescendo brings the first symphony
to its close.

The second symphony, Bethleem sets just the very first
lines of the Gloria near its end. It thus opens with a long
orchestral introduction, sometimes with wordless chorus. At
first calm and mysterious the music becomes more animated with
much contrapuntal writing although textures tend to thin-out
chamber-like. However, halfway into the movement, the music
darkens again until new rays of light dispel the sombre mood.
After a big crescendo, bright fanfares - bringing those of the
Sanctus in Britten’s War Requiem to mind
- introduce the final choral section. This ends in utter peacefulness
with a final blessing from a solo cello.

The third symphony, Mater Dolorosa opens hesitantly with
bowed percussion, plodding strings with short brass punctuation.
More angular material follows introducing the setting of the
Stabat Mater. Compared to the preceding symphonies the
third is fairly straightforward in that it mirrors the different
moods suggested by the words. It ends with a beautiful, appeased
coda.

This is a really imposing and accessible work that needs, but
generously rewards repeated hearings, not because the music
is ‘difficult’ but because the work as a whole is
rather complex in its conception. The music is superbly crafted
and the scoring is remarkably inventive throughout this long
triptych. In her concise liner-notes the composer states that
“it was a personal experience, not a ritualistic reiteration
of well known truths, which induced the composer to approach
issues that have been the subject of contemplation for centuries”.
What this personal experience was, we do not know; neither do
we know in what way it left its mark on the music. Anyway it
may be better like that so that each listener may make up his
or her own mind about the music and the work as a whole.

To me this substantial piece is the work of an honest and sincere
composer whose music deserves to be better known.

Performance and recording are really very fine. One would hardly
guess that this is a live recording.

In short, this is a most welcome release that will, I hope,
bring Narbutaitė’s music to a much broader audience.

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